Let Us Help You Find What to Read Next!
There are numerous resources that the library has to help you and your family find what to read next. Through librarian-curated newsletters and a BookMatch System, you can find award-winning children’s books, explore new topics as a family, or find more books on your child's favorite subjects.
Take a look at these award-winning titles!
NCTE Charlotte Huck Award:This award was established in 2014 to promote and recognize excellence in the writing of fiction for children that has the potential to transform their lives by inviting compassion, imagination, and wonder.
Newbery Medals and Honors: The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
Randolph Caldecott Medal: The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.
Phoenix Award: The Children's Literature Association Phoenix Award recognizes books of exceptional literary merit.
Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award: The Dolly Gray Children’s Literature Award recognizes authentic portrayals of individuals with developmental disabilities in books for children and youth.
Coretta Scott King Book Narrative Award: This award commemorates the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and honors Mrs. Coretta Scott King. It's awarded annually to recognize outstanding books for young adults and children by African American authors and illustrators that reflect the African American experience. The illustration award list can be found here.
Pura Belpre Award: The Pura Belpré Award is presented to a Latino writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience. The award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library. Find the illustration winners here.
Robert F. Sibert Award: The Sibert Award honors the most distinguished informational book published in English for its significant contribution to children’s literature.
Cardinal Cup Award: The Cardinal Cup Award (formerly the Jefferson Cup) was established in 1982 to honor a distinguished biography, historical fiction or American history book for young people.
Theodor Seuss Geisel Award: The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award is given annually to the author and illustrator of the most distinguished contribution to the work of American children’s literature known as beginning reader books published in the United States during the preceding year.
Asian-Pacific American Award for Literature: The Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature promotes Asian/Pacific culture and heritage and is awarded based on literary and artistic merit.
Schneider Family Book Award: The Schneider Family Book Awards honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.
Each year the Virginia State Literacy Association votes on outstanding books to recommend to readers in the state. Their purpose is to:
- Encourage young readers to become better acquainted with contemporary books with outstanding literary appeal,
- Broaden students’ awareness of literature as a life-long pleasure,
- Encourage reading aloud in classrooms as a means of introducing reading for pleasure, and
- Honor favorite books and their authors.
A winner is announced for each level- Primary, Elementary, Middle School, and High School. The winning book will have gathered the highest number of votes in their category. Check out the current 2024-2025 list.
Staff Picks
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Clean Getaway
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nic Stone comes a timely middle-grade road-trip story through landmarks of the Civil Rights movement and the map they lay for contemporary race relations.
How to Go on an Unplanned Road Trip with Your Grandma:
Grab a Suitcase: Prepacked from the big spring break trip that got CANCELLED.
Fasten Your Seatbelt: G'ma's never conventional, so this trip won't be either.
Use the Green Book: G'ma's most treasured possession. It holds history, memories, and most important, the way home.What Not to Bring:
A Cell Phone: Avoid contact with Dad at all costs. Even when G'ma starts acting stranger than usual.Set against the backdrop of the segregation history of the American South, take a trip with this New York Times bestseller and an eleven-year-old boy who is about to discover that the world hasn't always been a welcoming place for kids like him, and things aren't always what they seem--his G'ma included.
Truly a delight. -Christopher Paul Curtis, author of Newbery Medal winner Bud, Not Buddy
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The Winterhouse Mysteries
Danger, intrigue, and the power of family combine in The Winterhouse Mysteries, the fast-paced conclusion to Ben Guterson and Chloe Bristol's illustrated, enchanting Winterhouse middle grade trilogy.
It’s springtime at Winterhouse and Elizabeth is settling into the joyful chaos of her new home. But it isn’t long before she and Freddy are drawn into an ominous new mystery. Guests at the hotel start behaving oddly, and Elizabeth’s powers manifest in thrilling—sometimes frightening—new ways. As unnatural tremors shake the foundations of Winterhouse, Elizabeth hears cries for help from Gracella Winters, a villain she’d thought dead and gone for good.
Elizabeth’s discovery of a rare book containing secrets of an ancient ritual leads to a tragic realization: someone at the hotel is trying to help Gracella rise again. Can Elizabeth and Freddy banish these threats and protect the future of Winterhouse once and for all?
Christy Ottaviano Books -
In My Heart
A working mother reassures her child that even when they’re apart, they’re always in each other’s hearts. This lovely board book is perfect for moms to share with their little ones.
Though we’re not together
we’re never truly apart,
because you’re always on my mind
and you’re always in my heart.
This is what a mother tells her child as she leaves for work each day. This lovely board book perfectly captures the sentiment that many women feel about being a working mom. The lyrical text takes us through a mother’s day away, showing us that although she’s working hard, her child is always on her mind and always in her heart. -
10-Minute Duct Tape Projects
Need some fast and easy duct tape projects for your makerspace? You're in luck! From spinners and beads to wallets and bookmarks, these engaging 10-minute projects will have kids making in no time!
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Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away
From Newbery Medalist Meg Medina comes the bittersweet story of two girls who will always be each other's número uno, even though one is moving away.
A big truck with its mouth wide open is parked at the curb, ready to gobble up Evelyn's mirror with the stickers around the edge . . . and the sofa that we bounce on to get to the moon.
Evelyn Del Rey is Daniela's best friend. They do everything together and even live in twin apartments across the street from each other: Daniela with her mami and hamster, and Evelyn with her mami, papi, and cat. But not after today--not after Evelyn moves away. Until then, the girls play amid the moving boxes until it's time to say goodbye, making promises to keep in touch, because they know that their friendship will always be special. The tenderness of Meg Medina's beautifully written story about friendship and change is balanced by Sonia Sánchez's colorful and vibrant depictions of the girls' urban neighborhood. -
Fern and Horn
Fern and Horn look like two peas in a pod, but they have very different ways of seeing the world, in this joyful picture book about creativity by renowned author and illustrator Marie-Louise Gay.
Fern loves to draw flowers and butterflies, birds and bees, caterpillars and orange trees. Horn wants to draw too, but he thinks his flowers look like purple pancakes and his caterpillars like striped socks.
"Draw whatever you want!" Fern tells him.
Horn draws an enormous elephant that tramples all over her pictures.
Fortunately, Fern's imagination is as big as the universe. She loves gazing at the stars and cutting out star shapes. Again, Horn tries to follow suit, but he is frustrated with his creations and makes a ferocious paper polar bear that devours Fern's stars.
Undeterred, Fern decides to build a castle that can withstand elephants and polar bears, but a fire-breathing dragon comes along. Luckily, Fern knows exactly what dragons like best ...
Illustrations full of vibrant color and collage bring to life a story about the endless imagination and creative energy of young children. Marie-Louise Gay suggests that if children are given the time and space to explore the many paths to creativity, the results are brilliant and inspiring.
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.6
Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3
Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events